Approximately 29 minutes

Composer: born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria; died December 5, 1791, Vienna

Work composed: Summer 1788

World premiere: undocumented

Instrumentation: flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.

When 25-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart arrived in Vienna in 1781, he astonished everyone with his dazzling skill as a pianist. He quickly became the most sought-after performer in town and people flocked to his concerts.  By 1787, however, Mozart’s fortunes had shifted. His numerous attempts to secure a royal court appointment, which would have provided a steady living, had proved unsuccessful. Mozart also stopped writing and performing piano concertos for his subscription concerts in order to concentrate on the greater creative rewards of opera. Although Mozart’s operas met with some success both in Vienna and abroad, the income they generated did not offset the enormous costs of production. To make matters worse, Mozart was notoriously incapable of managing money. 

In the beginning of the summer of 1788, Mozart found himself in dire financial circumstances. He wrote a series of anguished letters to friend and fellow Freemason Michael Puchberg, pleading for loans. Mozart also pawned several valuables, tried to get advances from his publisher, and attempted to sell his manuscripts; these humiliating efforts to raise funds yielded little.

Mozart’s final three symphonies, Nos. 39, 40 and 41, were composed in nine weeks during the summer of 1788. Even for Mozart this rate of output is remarkable, especially given the high quality of all three works. The elegant lightheartedness of the Symphony No. 39 contrasts starkly with Mozart’s worrisome financial situation. A contemporary critic labeled this joyful work “Mozart’s splendid symphony.” 

Nothing is definitively known about the circumstances surrounding the composition of these three symphonies, but it is likely Mozart wrote them for a series of concerts he had planned to present in Vienna in the summer of 1788, or for a trip to London (which he never made), or perhaps both. There are no surviving records to prove the Vienna concerts in fact took place, but the amazing speed with which Mozart composed these symphonies suggests an urgent need for new music that would entice audiences back to the
concert hall. 

The Adagio-Allegro’s stately introduction hints at grandeur and opulence. The main movement begins with a gentle, questioning theme in the strings, answered by a vigorous rhythmic counter-melody for trumpets and timpani. Mozart uses the primary melody of the Andante con moto to transport the listener into a realm of quiet agitation, exploring dark minor keys that hint at his own inner turmoil. By contrast, the lilting charm of the Menuetto: Allegretto celebrates the simple joys of a minuet with a bouncy rhythm. In the trio, a solo clarinet sings the graceful melody of an Austrian country ländler. For the spirited Finale: Allegro, Mozart unleashes his imagination and impish sense of humor, with off-beat syncopations, unexpected silences, breakneck speed, and sudden juxtapositions of soft and loud dynamics.

© Elizabeth Schwartz